1. Download and install IPMI View onto the system

1. Run as an administrator, running it normally refuses to open the program.

1. You should see a UI like this, click on the magnifying glass to begin searching for systems

NOTE: You should be connected by ethernet in the computer room, so that your IP address has 202 in it.

Open

Open

1. Search for computers in the range 192.168.202.1 and 192.168.202.255. Also click on detect for the network mask

1. You can search both IPMI 1.5 and 2.0, eventually you should see computers appearing in the interface. Shift-Click and save all of them (that you need); then exit the box.

1. You should then have all your saved computers/systems in the IPMI domain panel

1. Right mouse on a system, and click open in browser, you should see this in your browser (pictured below)

1. Login to supermicro with ADMIN as the username and ADMIN as the password. The screen you get is as such (In the browser)

What can you do?

Home Screen - Click on the preview image, which will download a Java file. Run the Java file and it will allow you to access the console of the system

From here, login with <username>/<password> (username and pswd) and type in ‘hostname -I’. This should give you the true IP of the system and you can therefore work out which one it is.

Configuration - If you go to ‘Network’ from here, you can give the system a hostname to identify it under.

NOTE: Some versions of Supermicro refused java and I also could not rename these versions as an additions. Even with the site in the exceptions list, java refused to work.

202.29 did not work, .32 also didn’t work with the same error, likewise with .34, .37, .38 and .49. The following error was displayed by all 6 of these systems...

How do you find the IPMI address if the system is booted into Linux?

Using Supermicro’s ipmicfg

From INE V9.0.3016 and NE-ONE V5.0.6 onwards we supply supermicro’s tool called ipmicfg in /ippe/bin/

You can find out the IP address, Mask and gateway (and set them with this tool).  Here are just a few commands from the tool’s -help option:

IPMICFG Version 1.31.1 (Build 200623)

Copyright(c) 2020 Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Usage: IPMICFG params (Example: IPMICFG -m 192.168.1.123)

 -help                      Display a list of commands

 -m                         Shows IPv4 address and MAC.

 -m <ip>                    Sets IPv4 address (format: ###.###.###.###).

 -a <mac>                   Sets MAC (format: ##:##:##:##:##:##).

 -k                         Shows Subnet Mask.

 -k <mask>                  Sets Subnet Mask (format: ###.###.###.###).

 -dhcp                      Gets the DHCP status.

 -dhcp on                   Enables the DHCP.

 -dhcp off                  Disables the DHCP.

 -g                         Shows a Gateway IP.

 -g <gateway>               Sets a Gateway IP (format: ###.###.###.###).

Example:

<username>@NE-ONE-Emulator:~$ sudo /ippe/bin/ipmicfg -m

IP=192.168.202.47

MAC=AC:1F:6B:4A:E2:83

<username>@NE-ONE-Emulator:~$ sudo /ippe/bin/ipmicfg -k

Subnet Mask=255.255.255.0

<username>@NE-ONE-Emulator:~$ sudo /ippe/bin/ipmicfg -g

Gateway=192.168.202.254

The command ipmicfg was downloaded from Supermicro’s support site; you get a package called: IPMICFG_1.31.1_build.200623.zip  it contains the documentation and lots of exe’s for Windows, Linux etc.  I just took the single exe from the Linux 64bit folder called IPMICFG-Linux.x86_64 and copied it to /ippe/bin/ as ipmicfg.

Using ipmitool - which is not installed as standard and needs the internet to install it

The command:

$ sudo ipmitool lan print  | grep "IP Address"

If you don’t have ipmitool installed then get it:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install ipmitool

Or you can use:

$ sudo /ippe/bin/ipmicfg -m from INE 9.0.3016 onwards and NE-ONE V5.0.6 onwards - see above

For INE version 8.5 or NE-ONE V4.x you can obtain ipmicfg directly from NE-ONE and will need to scp or sftp it to the system

On a modern Supermicro you can now web into the IPMI (BMC)

Default username/password ADMIN/ADMIN (yes - caps) as above

Setting a Static IPMI address

Here are the commands:

• Turn off DHCP: sudo ./ipmicfg -dhcp off

• Set IPMI address: sudo ./ipmicfg -m <ipaddress>

• Set IPMI Gateway: sudo ./ipmicfg -g <gwadddress>

• Set IPMI Subnetmask: sudo ./ipmicfg -k <subnetmask>

e.g.

<username>@INE-Enterprise:~$ sudo ./ipmicfg -dhcp off

Successfully disable DHCP.

<username>@INE-Enterprise:~$ sudo ./ipmicfg -m 192.168.203.114

IP=192.168.203.114

<username>@INE-Enterprise:~$ sudo ./ipmicfg -g 192.168.203.1

Gateway=192.168.203.1

<username>@INE-Enterprise:~$ sudo ./ipmicfg -k 255.255.255.0

Subnet Mask=255.255.255.0

NOTE

When the IPMI address, subnetmask and gateway are set they are immediately written to non volatile memory, unlike Cisco routers, for example, where a save to nv memory command is required.  We have verified this with a full removal of power from the system it retains the IPMI address you set.

Now from the Jumphost the IPMI address (192.168.203.114) and Net management IP addresses (192.168.202.114)  are both pingable:

NOTE - in our datacenter we have a completely separate subnet for IPMI now: 192.168.203.0/24 - this is not a requirement - we used to have the ipmi address in the same subnet (192.168.202/24) as the management port and using a shared cable.

From the Jumphost you should now be able to web into the IPMI console:

And login (default user ADMIN, default password ADMIN) which gets you to the main IPMI screen.

NOTE on this screen you’ll see the term BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) referenced - for this purpose this is equivalent to the IPMI

And from the Remote Control Menu choosing iKVM/HTML5 gives:

Click the iKVM/HTML5 button and it will launch a new web browser window to the console itself:

Virtual Media

You don’t need a USB stick - but you do need a SMB server (Windows filesharing).  Set up the Virtual media like this:

Note the first folder in the path is your share name.  Dont forget to press [Save]

Then click [Mount] and check the Device 1 status (above) which should say: There is an ISO file mounted

Reboot the box using Power Controls in IPMI

Use Del to interrupt the boot

Choose USB CD/DVD:ATEN Virtual…  (Emulated USB CDROM)  as your first boot device:

Choose Save & Exit and it reboots using your chosen device.  Now install as though you were using USB or CDROM media